§ Mr. DrewTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the recent outbreaks of meningitis with particular reference to(a) source of the disease and (b) strategies being used to combat its spread. [159512]
§ Yvette CooperThe Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS) has received reports of 26 cases of group W135 meningococcal infection including nine deaths following this years pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj). Some of those affected attended the Hajj, but two thirds are contacts of pilgrims in the community.
Following an outbreak of meningococcal W135 infection at last year's Hajj, on the advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the United Kingdom recommended that travellers to the Hajj this year be immunised with a quadrivalent meningococcal vaccine which covers this strain. This vaccine was launched by the manufacturers for general use in early January 2001. Information was sent to all immunisation co-ordinators on 26 January informing them of these immunisation requirements for pilgrims travelling to Saudi Arabia for Hajj. This information was also distributed to health professionals via a Chief Medical Officer letter.
The Department has worked with the Muslim Council of Britain to make this information widely available to the Muslim community. An A4 poster with information for the public has been distributed to Mosques and can be downloaded in Arabic, Bengali and Urdu versions from www.doh.gov.uk/traveladvice/hajj.htm.
The PHLS Meningococcal Forum considered the outbreak and decided that the best control measure for the outbreak was the prompt antibiotic treatment of suspected meningococcal disease by medical staff. On 12 April the Department wrote to all doctors reminding them of the signs and symptoms of meningococcal disease and alerting them to the possibility of cases in the Muslim community.